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Crissie Elrick

POSTED:February 29, 2012 7:30 a.m.

The city of Richmond Hill will soon be pursuing a new design and engineer for the upgrading and expansion of its wastewater treatment facility at Sterling Creek.The council voted in February to allow city attorney Ray Smith to begin negotiations for an early termination of the contract the city currently holds with Savannah-based H+K Engineering for the facility improvements. The council is still working towards officially terminating the contract.Mayor Harold Fowler said the purpose of terminating the contract is because the designs that H+K has presented do not comply with expectations of the Environmental Protection Division.“This is the second design they (H+K) came up with,” Fowler said. “The first (design) EPD flat turned it down and when they came up with this one (EPD) wasn’t happy with it.” Fowler said the designs H+K presented don’t meet the stringent guidelines EPD has placed on the facility, or future guidelines that could be put in place. The designs also called for use of the existing drainage pond, and Fowler said the liner in that pond was almost out of warranty.Some council members and city staff recently toured two different wastewater treatment facilities in Pooler and Port Wentworth. Fowler said those two plants have similar designs the city looks to move forward with. Seeing the facilities, he said, would give the council a better understanding of how the facilities work.